The original, invented by Richard LaMotta (1942–2010) in New York City, was made up of vanilla ice cream sandwiched by two chocolate chip cookies with the sides rolled in chocolate chips which stick to the ice cream.[2]

While ice cream sandwiches have been sold in New York City since the 1890s,[3] Richard LaMotta created Chipwich in 1981. A guerrilla marketing campaign, in which he trained and enlisted sixty street cart vendors (mostly students) to sell them on the streets of New York City for a dollar each, established Chipwich as a successful brand. [2]

As an independent, the company struggled to find capital to expand. In 1984, burdened with heavy debt, Chipwich sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[4] By 1987, co-founders Metzger and LaMotta had reorganised the company and obtained a $1 million investment from Swedish holding company Hexagon AB, which guaranteed loans and licensed its products.[5] In 1992, the company was back in Chapter 11 bankruptcy after incurring a $1.4 million loss on sales of $4.8 million; an accounting scandal involving inventory overstatements at Peltz Food, a subsidiary headed by Mr. Robert Peltz, were at the root of much of the problem.[4]

CoolBrands International bought Chipwich in 2002, becoming North America's third-largest ice cream vendor. Due to a series of financial difficulties which began with the loss of its Weight Watchers/Smart Ones frozen food licence in 2004,[6] CoolBrands sold Chipwich, Eskimo Pie and Real Fruit to the Dreyer's division of Nestlé in 2007[7] as part of a larger divestiture of core assets which left the company as little more than a publicly listed empty shell.

By 2009, Nestlé had stopped production of the original Chipwich,[when?] possibly because it competed with its own chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich.[citation needed]

The US trademark was abandoned;[8] "Retrobrands USA LLC"[9] with a long pattern of trademarking once-famous but abandoned names (like Ken-L Ration pet food, Hai Karate aftershave, Tegrin dandruff shampoo, Puss N Boots cat food, Tender Vittles cat food and Sani-Flush toilet cleaner) has claimed the mark.[10] As of July 2014[update] "Chipwich Gelato" pint-size container of kosher Italian ice cream manufactured by Gelato Petrini is now available in NYC.[11] In addition, it is sold through Marina Ice Cream which has also re-launched the Original 5 oz CHIPWICH novelty brand both in Vanilla and Chocolate. It is currently sold in NYC with plans for all USA and Canada distribution.[12]

1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the United States. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; US and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license.3 US production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 Canadian production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 5 US rights and production owned by Smarties Candy Company, with a different product.6 US rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 8 Produced by Cereal Partners, and Branded Nestlé in The United Kingdom, and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods, elsewhere.